g2 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



the species based on Amboinan material can only be interpreted 

 correctly by the examination of a series of specimens collected 

 in the localities given by Rumpf for his different species in 

 relation to other data given by him, such as habitat, native 

 names, uses, and dates of flowering and fruiting. In as much 

 as the general flora of Amboina is very similar to that of the 

 Philippines, many of our local problems in nomenclature can be 

 solved by determining the exact status of those species based 

 on Rumpf's figures. Attempts made by Stickman, by Linnseus, 

 by Henschel, and by Hasskarl to determine the status of the 

 Rumphian species have been only partly successful because those 

 authors had little or no botanical material from Amboina. It 

 can justly be claimed that this botanical investigation of Am- 

 boina is one of the most important pieces of taxonomic research 

 to be prosecuted in the entire Malayan region. The Dutch 

 botanists at Buitenzorg, Java, to whom the plan was submitted, 

 have promised their full cooperation and support. To carry 

 out the plan, Doctor Robinson left Manila on June 17 for Am- 

 boina, where he will spend some months in botanical exploration 

 and observation. On his return it is our plan to study the 

 material collected and to issue illustrative sets of Amboinan 

 plants correlated, so far as possible, with those figured and 

 named by Rumpf, 



Doctor Brown has continued his observations and studies on the 

 vegetation of Mount Maquiling, especially the relationship of 

 the vegetation to environment, altitude, humidity, rainfall, soil 

 moisture, and other factors. The problem is an exceedingly 

 broad and complicated one, and new phases present themselves 

 from day to day. The amount of instrumentation necessary 

 and the great amount of routine involved keeping the instruments 

 in condition, recording data, and interpreting the results will 

 take practically all of Doctor Brown's time and energy for some 

 months to come. No similar piece of work has been done in the 

 tropics, and, for that matter, at no place in the world on such 

 an extensive scale. The completed observations will form the 

 basis of a series of very interesting and valuable papers on the 

 relationship of different types of tropical vegetation to envi- 

 ronment, and certainly demonstrate some facts of great economic 

 importance, 



Mr. Graff is prosecuting the work on various phases of Phil- 

 ippine mycology and vegetable pathology, in part identifying 

 both the accumulated and current collections of Philippine 

 fungi, preparing duplicate material for exchange purposes, and 

 working on some problems in plant pathology. He has in hand 



